BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Janet Williams

Janet Williams was born and raised in Rome, GA. She graduated from Berry College and went on to earn a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She makes a living as a tennis teaching pro in Rome. She is a member of First Baptist Church, Rome where she serves on the New Member Welcoming Committee. After living in Indonesia for several months in 2006 - 2007, teaching tennis and English through an educational foundation there, she returned to the US and founded The Ruble International Education Initiative. She currently serves as the President of RIEI.

Allison Brooks

Allison Brooks has been a resident of Rome, GA since 1994. She attended Darlington School as a resident student and graduated from there in 1979. She went on to Auburn University where she earned a B. A. degree in journalism. Allison works as office manager in the family owned general contracting firm, Brooks Building Group, Inc. She is an active member of First Baptist Church where she has served on numerous committees. Allison has also been involved in the community working with the Community Kitchen and the William Davies Shelter. Allison currently serves on the board of R.I.E.I. Allison is married to Jeff Brooks and has two children.

Tara Inman

Tara Inman has been at Darlington since 2002, serving as a head of house for seven years and now as Director of ESL and Coordinator of Spiritual Life. She and her husband Brian, an Upper School history teacher, live on campus with their four children, Maggie ('19), Davis, Wesley and Harrison. She received her B.A. and M.A.T. at Carson-Newman College. She currently serves as Secretary for R.I.E.I.

Anna Sato

Anna Sato earned her B.A in Psychology at The University of Colorado and an M.A. in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University in Boston. She lived, and taught English as a second language, in Japan. She has provided intercultural adjustments programs to Americans relocating internationally. Currently, she is a teacher assistant for the Rome city schools. Anna is married and has two children.

Priscilla Tunnell

Priscilla J. Tunnell was born and lived most of her younger years in Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida and has a Master of Arts in Education from S.W.T.S. in Ft. Worth, Texas. She has done foreign mission work in Vietnam and Costa Rica , home mission work in the states as well as led mission teams to several other countries. She has served on the staffs of churches in four states in the fields of education, music and faith development. She has one grown son, three grown adopted Vietnamese children and 9 grandchildren. Currently she is the Minister of Faith Development at the First Baptist Church of Rome, Georgia having served there for the past 13 years.

Martha Van Cise

Martha taught English at Berry College for 29 years, where she also served as the director of the Academic Support Center. Though she provided academic support services for all students including tutorial services, her primary duties were for those with disabilities and special needs. As a developmental English teacher at Berry, she worked with many students who were second language learners, including Ruddi Nefid, one of RIEI's scholarship recipients. She was an advisor for and provided support services to seven refugee students from war-torn countries, five of whom were from Muslim countries. She has two children, and is now enjoying her retirement.

Iva Palmer

Iva Palmer was born in Rijeka, Croatia. She came to the United States as a senior in high school through a student exchange program and went on to complete her college education in the U.S. She has a bachelor's degree from Liberty University and a master's degree in clinical psychology from Radford University, both in Virginia. Iva has worked as a special education teacher for Floyd County Schools in Rome, Georgia for the past 16 years. She also teaches English to Speakers for Other Languages (ESOL) classes for Floyd County Schools teachers. Iva has been serving on the RIEI board since 2013.

Cole Abbott

Cole Abbott was born and raised in Rome, GA. He is currently a Bonner Scholar at Berry College, where he is pursuing a degree in Psychology. He is a member of Garden Lakes Baptist Church. His passion for community service has brought him to several places in the United States, such as Atlanta, GA, Cincinnati, OH, and Milwaukee, WI. He has also served overseas in Costa Rica. It was this passion for helping others that led Cole to becoming a Bonner Scholar and joining the RIEI board. RIEI is grateful to Cole for constructing this website.

Eddy Ruble

Eddy Ruble grew up in Indonesia, arriving in 1972, where his father worked as a missionary doctor for 29 years. He attended college at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, majoring in Sociology and Religion. After gaining 4 years of work experience in Indonesia, he went on to obtain a Masters of Divinity degree from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. While there, he married Cindy Ring. In 1998, Eddy and Cindy were appointed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to serve as Field Personnel in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Their work focused primarily on education and disaster response. Following a series of earthquakes in West Sumatra, his family moved to Penang, Malaysia in 2007. His relief and development work is still primarily focused in Sumatra. Following the events of 9/11, Eddy enrolled in a Master of Arts program at Hartford Seminary in ‘Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations.’ Eddy and Cindy have been involved with RIEI since its inception and Eddy serves as the Asia Regional Representative for RIEI.